An Expert Appraisal Committee suggested the renewal of the environmental clearance for the proposed steel plant of the South Korean giant Posco at Jagatsinghpur, Odisha.
Posco wants to set up a 12-mn tpa steel plant in the area. In the interim, it will be starting off with 4 mn tpa capacity and add another 4 mn t in the second phase. The committee was reassured that intermediate plans only required “minor relocation of auxiliary facilities.
The committee was convinced that the change is only in the construction schedule, not in the project size, overall layout and configuration. Posco, which had signed an agreement with the state government in 2005, had originally sought 4,004 acre land.
However, local opposition to the project has forced the company to start work on just 2,700 acre, which the state’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDCO) is committed to handing over by end of June.
Meanwhile, based on the recommendation of the committee, the union environment ministry would take a final call on renewing the green nod for the much-delayed project.
Until the recommended captive iron ore deposit at Kandahar mine in Sundargarh district (which still needs Central approval) is developed, Posco will get ore from state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation and other private miners in the state on long-term prices, reports indicate.
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